Clarifies Tenant Foreclosure Rights, Addresses
Oversight in Law to End Occupancy Confusion

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Judiciary Committee Chair Helene Weinstein and Assemblymember Jaime Williams today announced the Assembly's approval of legislation to further protect tenants who enter into rental agreements after building foreclosure actions have begun.

"This bill makes it clear that a tenant who signs a rental agreement involving a building that is being foreclosed on is eligible for the same occupancy protections provided under the law no matter whether they signed the lease before or after the foreclosure proceedings began," said Heastie. "With the passage of this measure, we correct a very unfortunate oversight in the law and remove any confusion about tenant foreclosure protections."

"With this correction, the Assembly bill eliminates any reason to interpret the law in a way that denies protections to tenants who begin living in a building during foreclosure proceedings," said Weinstein. "Securing and retaining a safe and affordable place to live in New York City is a very difficult and stressful task and foreclosure proceedings, which often can take longer than a year, only make things more complicated for tenants. I am very pleased that this bill will strengthen notice and other tenant protections in foreclosure cases."

"No longer will there be any doubt about the protections the law provides tenants who took up residence after a building's foreclosure process began," said Williams, the bill's sponsor. "Thanks to the provisions of this measure, the foreclosure protections will apply to tenants who are residents of a building before and after a foreclosure action has begun,"

The tenant foreclosure protections the Legislature enacted into law in 2009 permits tenants living in buildings involved in foreclosure proceeding, and who continue to pay their rent, to remain in their apartments for 90 days after the foreclosure sale, or until the end of their lease, unless the buyer intends to occupy the property.

The enactment of the Assembly's tenant foreclosure protection expansion bill (A.2803, Williams) would expand the law's foreclosure protections to include those tenants who entered into a leasing agreement after a foreclosure action begins on a building.